News and Events in the Harrogate District

Cricketing Giant! Former England all rounder Alex Tudor with three of the young participants at this summer’s Andrew Flintoff Cricket Academy, Louis Atkinson, nine, Felix Atkinson, seven and William Davidson, nine

Rain fails to stop play for cricket legend’s visit to Harrogate’s Ashville College

Rain did not stop play when a well-known and much loved former England cricketer came to visit a Harrogateschool’s summer sports camp.

Alex Tudor was this year’s guest coach at the Andrew Flintoff Cricket Academy, which was again held at Ashville College, and saw more than 20 young cricketers participating.

Tudor – best known for scoring 99 not out as a “night watchman” and thereby securing a win for England against New Zealand in 1999 – spent a day coaching the youngsters in the sport, in addition to signing autographs and telling them how he rose through the ranks to play for his country.

Come rain or shine Alex was able to make good use of Ashville’s facilities thanks to our indoor cricket nets.

As ever, we were extremely pleased to host the Andrew Flintoff Cricket Academy at Ashville, and we were equally delighted that this once again gave us the opportunity to showcase the excellent facilities we have here at the school.

Since it first came to Ashville almost a decade ago, the Andrew Flintoff Cricket Academy has welcomed some of the best known names in the sport as guest coaches.

These have included Ryan Sidebottom, who coached at the camp over Easter, Glen Chapple, Anthony McGrath, Jimmy Anderson, Dominic Cork and Andrew Flintoff himself.

This summer, the sports facilities at Ashville College are also playing host to “Netball Fever” (August 17-19) and the “Hockey Masterclass” (August 24-26) having already hosted the Louis Smith Gymnastics Academy earlier this month.

These sporting masterclasses follow the excellent performance at the annual HMC (Headmasters and Headmistresses Conference) Athletics Championships where Ashville College school teams outperformed themselves.

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